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Comment by loloquwowndueo | Hacker News Reader

I just sprinkle short events that show me as “busy” and start at odd offsets like :15 and :45 so I can have some blocks of time where I get to take a break from meetings and do some of the work that stems from those meetings (otherwise when the hell do I do the work). The weird offsets really confuse calendaring applications :) which always try to align things to :30 or :00.

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Just block off times as “reserved” for work, and unapologetically so.

I do that and keep my calendar private so people can't see they're productivity blockers. If something's important, people will ask me if I can free up a slot for them. If it isn't important they usually don't bother asking, which is just as well.

I value transparency as a leader, and so I keep my calendar public and encourage my teams to do so as well. However, sometimes I'll just block off some time with the word "busy" as the title. It looks like it's a private event, but it's really just me taking some time for myself. People will assume that someone just made a private meeting with me. You get the benefit of both sides that way. It's worked well for me in the past.

Just sharing my POV. You do you. :)

I do this. Works really well.

Last time I did that, a PM just ignored it.

Then you just say “no” to the meeting and don’t attend :)

On the other hand, I may have way fewer meetings than many others that might get invited to the same meetings, so I understand it can be hard to find a time where everyone is available.

I've only been to one company that had a sane meeting culture. Along with every meeting invitation there were attached documents that you were expected to read. You were expected to have notes and comments ready. The meetings mostly were not supposed to be a time where you worked vague things out.

Not being able to meet in person we relaxed this rule to encourage more "shooting the shit" and team bonding time focusing more on vague stuff.

Specifics are already easy to discuss async.

Exactly. Make your own schedule, or others will make it for you.

The anecdote said that they did make their own schedule but then someone made it for them anyway.

It sounds like they attempted to make their own schedule, but then acquiesced when faced with an inconsiderate ask.

In my last few jobs, there has been the option to set a meeting to private. It shows on your calendar but people can’t see the title or other details. You could create multiple shorter events if you think people would be suspicious of a single multi-hour meeting.

M doesn't stand for manager, it stands for assistant.

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